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Dara Sands

@darasands.bsky.social

190 followers 260 following 50 posts

Conservation scientist | Political ecologist Interested in human-wildlife coexistence, rewilding, conservation, sustainability, and environmental governance. Irish living in Norway 🇮🇪 🇳🇴

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Dara Sands @darasands.bsky.social · Apr 3

I’ve written a few words in the Irish News about human-wildlife coexistence in Ireland, which might be worth a look for those interested in conservation and rewilding, both in Ireland and beyond. It’s behind a paywall, so I’ve shared a version of the article below.

www.irishnews.com/life/the-rev...

The revival of Ireland’s birds of prey and the flight from conflict to conservation

Learning to live alongside each other is a crucial first step in learning to live alongside nature

www.irishnews.com

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Dara Sands @darasands.bsky.social · 6d

It’s not unspoken, it’s the central message of this piece and the project. The #GreenToGrey website highlights western consumerism as a key driver and the way “wealthy countries develop not only essential things, but unnecessary things, from golf courses to artificial ski slopes.”

greentogrey.eu

Green to Grey – How Europe is squandering the little nature it has left

Green to Grey is a pioneering collaboration between journalists and scientists counting every green space lost in Europe between January 2018 and December 2023.

greentogrey.eu

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Dara Sands @darasands.bsky.social · 7d

The findings from the #GreenToGrey project have been leading the news in Norway today. Yet, Ireland isn’t far behind when it comes to converting nature and farmland per capita to make way for construction, housing, roads, luxury developments, etc. Has this been getting much coverage back home?

Per-Erik Schulze @pererikschulze.bsky.social · 7d

Again Norway tops a not so nice list, of nature and farmland consumption per capita for construction and "development". But all countries in Europe are on a slippery slope to piece by piece nature destruction. There is an urgent need to stop this nature crisis.

Full story www.nrk.no/dokumentar/x...

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Dara Sands @darasands.bsky.social · 22d

Waiting to hear back about job applications feels like...

Dara Sands @darasands.bsky.social · 27d

Nice to be back at @uninmbu.bsky.social this week as a guest lecturer on the Master's course "Green transformations in theory and practice".

The campus has changed a lot over the last few years, but there are still a few reminders that this place used to be the Norwegian Agricultural University 🐑

Dara Sands @darasands.bsky.social · Aug 10

Just back from a few days in Norway’s oldest national park, Rondane, doing visitor surveys for the "Sounds like Norway" project.

A key takeaway was that natural sounds (wind, water, birds etc) and, in particular, quiet really matter for how people enjoy and connect with the outdoors.

Dara Sands @darasands.bsky.social · Aug 4

"It is insulting that the commitment to the term rewilding is stronger than the commitment to reconciliation & truth-telling...At a time when we need empowerment, the label of rewilding does nothing but strip it from us."

Thought-provoking piece by Michael-Shawn Fletcher in @consletters.bsky.social

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Dara Sands @darasands.bsky.social · Jun 28

If economic growth and a healthy environment truly go hand in hand, why are N. Ireland’s land, air, and water in such poor condition? It’s time to stop repeating win-win myths and start acknowledging the trade-offs between pursuing growth, protecting the environment, and ensuring social well-being.

Dara Sands @darasands.bsky.social · Jun 27

Agree with most of Ray’s piece. But I’d argue the real challenge isn’t shifting from research to scaled-up restoration efforts. Restoration practices should be guided by research and knowledge that, ideally, is co-produced with local communities to ensure their needs and interests are centred.

Dara Sands @darasands.bsky.social · Jun 16

A hunter in Norway received a 45-day prison sentence for shooting a lynx he mistook for a fox.

What stands out about this story isn’t the rare conviction for a wildlife crime, it’s that the hunter turned himself in - an even rarer act of accountability in today’s world.

www.tv2.no/nyheter/inne...

Trudde dette var rev - no er jegeren dømd til fengsel

Mannen erkjenner at han burde ha sjekka betre før han fyrte av.

www.tv2.no

Reposted by Dara Sands

Rosaleen Duffy @rosaleenduffy.bsky.social · Jun 11

This is a really important & useful paper: the persistence of the idea that poverty causes biodiversity decline inhibits just and effective conservation. @upascual.bsky.social @estherturnhout.bsky.social @pettorelli.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Unveiling pervasive assumptions: moving beyond the poverty-biodiversity loss association in conservation

This paper reflects on the continued persistence of the idea in conservation research and practice that poverty drives biodiversity loss (the poverty-…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Dara Sands @darasands.bsky.social · Jun 8

Yes, and some prominent ecologists have also been making similar arguments for even longer - hence the importance of mutual respect, which was somewhat difficult to detect in the rather dismissive initial comment.

Reposted by Dara Sands

Nathalie Pettorelli @pettorelli.bsky.social · Jun 6

Should Ecology be more proactive & vocal on one of the key issues of our times? What systemic & institutional changes are needed for the ecological community to be at the forefront of the response? If these are questions that speak to you, this new paper may be of interest lnkd.in/eXfXG4xM

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Dara Sands @darasands.bsky.social · Jun 8

The authors rightly emphasize the need for greater engagement between ecologists and political ecologists, though this is not a new insight. However, productive interdisciplinary engagement requires mutual care and respect, so the tone of this particular remark strikes me as being counterproductive.

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Dara Sands @darasands.bsky.social · Jun 2

Agree that the actual *impacts* (livestock depredations, attacks on people etc) of wolves in Europe are relatively minimal.

However, as the evidence clearly shows, conflicts over wolves is a very different story.

Dara Sands @darasands.bsky.social · Jun 1

Really enjoyed this one, particularly the discussion about the different ways people engage with nature. This is often neglected or simplified in debates about conservation and rewilding, when it should be central given how they increasingly shape and frame how people interact with nature.

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Dara Sands @darasands.bsky.social · Jun 1

That’s quite a bold statement. Are there examples of wolf reintroductions that resulted in minimal human-wildlife conflict?

Reposted by Dara Sands

Allan Mee @kerryeaglemee.bsky.social · May 30

1. All eagle deaths, esp in a small population, are a loss but some are harder to take than most. Sadly, our 1st breeding male, released in 2008, was recently picked up dead. This bird deserves a proper obituary to put his life (and death) in context

www.thejournal.ie/investigatio...

First male white-tailed eagle to breed in Ireland in over a century found dead in Co Clare

While white-tailed eagles don’t often die from poisoning, a ‘disturbing’ increase in poisonings has been observed over the last three to five years.

www.thejournal.ie

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Reposted by Dara Sands

Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · May 9

"We will explore more, find more and extract more"

Norway announces its largest ever expansion of fossil fuel extraction. We don't get to claim we're climate heroes while we aggressively and almost anxiously seek to increase supply of the stuff that causes it.

Extractive emissions for Norway are approximately 4,200 higher than emissions avoided by domestic EV use

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Dara Sands @darasands.bsky.social · May 9

Thanks Fintan. I think the wolf’s conservation status in the bio regions is based on data from 2013-2018, so I wonder if it’s still reliable given the latest population data (2017-2023) shows a 35% increase in the overall population and positive trends for 7 of the 9 sub-populations?

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Dara Sands @darasands.bsky.social · May 9

Are there any circumstances where conservation NGOs might consider it reasonable to lower the wolf’s protection status in Europe?

Dara Sands @darasands.bsky.social · May 8

The European conservation movement’s disappointment with the shift in wolf management policy is understandable. However, for the reasons outlined below - particularly the empowerment of rural communities - a more flexible and adaptive approach to wolf management could help to foster coexistence.

Dara Sands @darasands.bsky.social · Apr 24

“What many of us are now realizing is that coexistence is more of a process than a solution, and that this process must begin by consulting with people closer to the ground, especially those who are being asked to share space with large carnivores and other wildlife.”

Bear Conservation @bear-conservation.bsky.social · Apr 11

Coexistence with Europe’s carnivores is possible (commentary).
news.mongabay.com/2025/04/coex...

Coexistence with Europe’s carnivores is possible (commentary)

Few people working in wildlife conservation in the 1980s could have imagined a future where breeding wolf packs roam the Netherlands and Denmark — but this is now part of Europe’s new reality. Over th...

news.mongabay.com

Reposted by Dara Sands

Toryn Whitehead @torynwhead.bsky.social · Apr 23

🚨 New paper! 🚨

The #lynx and #wolf have been extinct in #Scotland for over 400 years. Could divisions over their #reintroduction, linked to #rewilding, be in part the product of shifting baseline syndrome? 🐺

Check out this new paper to find out 👇

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

A shifting baseline theory of debates over potential lynx and wolf reintroductions to Scotland - Ambio

In Scotland, efforts to reintroduce extirpated species have been marred by guerrilla rewilding and social conflicts. We ask whether these conflicts could at least in part be the product of shifting ba...

link.springer.com

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Dara Sands @darasands.bsky.social · Apr 21

Big fan of Desert Island Discs, so I really enjoyed this interview with conservation biologist and rewilding pioneer Carl Jones about his life’s work saving species and rebuilding ecosystems.

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Desert Island Discs - Professor Carl Jones, conservation biologist - BBC Sounds

Professor Carl Jones, biologist, shares the soundtrack of his life with Lauren Laverne.

www.bbc.co.uk

Dara Sands @darasands.bsky.social · Apr 21

Perhaps they wouldn’t be particularly good or memorable ones, but they’d still be stories.

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